When Bill Lear created the Learjet in the early 1960s, he envisioned a small, fast and ­simple airplane, a concept the marketplace embraced. His 20-series and the slightly elongated 30-series ­aircraft that followed sold briskly for more than 20 years, until long after he had left the company.

Stephen J. Cannell arrived in a black stretch limousine for our interview at Southern California's Van Nuys Airport, where the novelist and TV show creator, writer and producer keeps his Gulfstream III and Learjet 55. The 68-year-old Cannell is handsome and elegant while also exuding a charm that can put anyone around him instantly at ease.

This small-cabin (light) jet has lower per-mile direct operating costs than contemporary models such as the dassault falcon 10 and learjet 35A, and the acquisition cost is only 20 percent of what you'd pay for a similarly performing very light jet. Plus, you can tweak a citation i to the point where it even outperforms many new aircraft costing millions more.

A chief selling point of fractional flying is its simplicity. Unlike charter customers, you don't have to bother with shopping for a flight; and unlike full owners, you don't have to worry about maintenance, storage and hiring crews. The fractional provider takes care of all that.

Has there ever been a better time to be a charter customer? Rates have declined significantly and aircraft availability is unfettered. Yet some charter operators are advising regular customers that now is the time to consider buying an aircraft, and more charter users are seeking acquisition advice on their own, according to some charter companies.

Three key figures in the banking industry's attempt to rebound from the financial crisis missed a much-hyped 11 a.m. meeting at the White House on December 15 when their flights were canceled because of fog at Washington National Airport.

Remember Victor Kiam-the man who liked Remington electric razors so much he bought the company? Well, you might say VistaJet chairman Thomas Flohr is Kiam's alter ego-he disliked an industry so much that he started a company to try to fix it. The industry in question is business jet charter.

The recession's lingering effects may prompt you to consider storing your aircraft until conditions improve. That can make sense if you need to slash your flying costs yet don't want to sell your airplane while prices are depressed.

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“When you get into the larger aircraft it becomes like a hotel, with dozens of staff supporting the plane based in a galley area down below. You have very comprehensive cooking facilities, and on larger aircraft we have looked at theatres, with spiral staircases and a Steinway grand piano. The limitations for what you can put inside a plane are pretty much the limits of physics, and even money cannot always overcome that. Even so, people are still always trying to push [the limits]. ”